Water safety at Collier County beaches

Reporter: Elizabeth Biro Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:

More Collier County beaches are opening, including the North Gulf Shore access point and the Vanderbilt Beach Access Point at numbers two, four, and six.

Despite this, the water is still not safe to swim in.

While the shores and streets around Vanderbilt Beach look a lot better than they did after Ian, don’t assume the water is completely safe.

Excess rain and storm surge from spiking harmful bacteria levels.

But that didn’t stop Rich Kocur and the family from coming down to the beach, as they do from Pittsburgh twice a year.

“It’s our kind of our go-to place,” Kocur said.

Florida’s Department of Health still urges everyone to stay out of the water.

Water-borne illness rates are rising, and who knows what debris remains beneath the surface?

“We’ve kind of just waded in, maybe ankle-, knee-deep. Nothing more, though,” Kocur said. “We’ve been pretty vigilant about the debris and the glass that’s possibly coming around. So, we’ve had our eyes open.”

While Kocur is aware of the risks, Colin Martin staying in the area while visiting from Canada wasn’t.

“I didn’t see any sign didn’t see any announcement and it looks kind of fine. We haven’t seen anything. I mean, it could be something to be worried about, but we haven’t seen anything and haven’t didn’t know much about it,” Martin said.

According to Collier County’s Department of Health website, there are no signs posted due to the widespread impact making it difficult to even post signs in these areas.

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